First immigrants, now the homeless?

To the editor:

Yesterday, President Donald Trump proceeded with his plan to transform the military into a personal law enforcement instrument to be used against American citizens. Not content with power to terrorize immigrants, he declared a phony emergency to take over the government of Washington, D.C.

According to the New York Times, “At a White House news conference, the president painted a dystopian picture of Washington — including ‘bloodthirsty criminals’ and ‘roving mobs of wild youth’ — that stood in sharp contrast to official figures showing violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low.”

To satisfy his lust for power, he has expanded his terror net to include homeless people in the category of criminals not entitled to due process. The Washington Post reports, “The President flexed his law enforcement power over Washington, declaring that he would clear the city of homeless people and crack down on crime.” 

The Post quotes the president saying: “It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness, and we’re getting rid of the slums, too. I know it’s not politically correct. You’ll say, ‘Oh so terrible.’ No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live.”

Apparently, eviction is not a cruel enough punishment for the poor who can’t afford to pay for shelter. Like refugees, they must be cleared from the streets and put — where? Where will they be put? As Congress has so generously given the president millions for new detention centers designed for criminals, no doubt space will be found to accommodate the poor.

The inference that living on the street must be evidence of mental illness will, I guess, be used to justify the sort of indiscriminate arrests that spread terror in our cities. But this is just speculation, not fact — yet. There is, however, sufficient evidence to ask who will be next in the president’s terror net.

Helen Krim